To be very shocked at attitude towards finding money

Coastpath I would have done the same. I bought some lovey plates in a charity shop and gave them much more than they were asking as I had seen them online at a higher price. we both gained.
I am not shocked, but I am so disappointed and sad that people will keep or take what doesn't belong to them. We all know what is right and wrong. My conscience wouldn't let me do it.
However, if I was starving I might think differently.

Coastpath

There are a lot of people on that thread saying hand the money in, give it to charity or try to find the owner. There are lots of good people out there too.

I bought a bag of dolls in a charity shop for £5. After spending a morning cleaning them up and laundering their little dresses I sold them on ebay for over £100. I gave half the money to the charity shop and kept the other half. Did I do the right thing? What would you have done?

Yes you did. I thought that these days the charity shops had access to antique dealers who could give them an idea of the value of certain items. I know many people who've bought stuff in charity shops hoping to make a bit of money by selling at bric a brac fairs. I think it's getting more difficult now but there are occasional stories of someone whose found a bargain.

I assume that whoever owned the quilt has died and that if the family chucked it out then it's tough on them. However, I would give half to the charity owning the shop where it was bought

But the family didn't just chuck it out. They donated it to a charity shop with no idea there was money inside. Surely some effort should be made to find them?

Indeed it should.

Curlywhirly

Brilliant! and not cheeky at all
I hope they gave him another bottle as well - one bottle wouldn't go far with six of them

Volunteering in a charity shop to clean, upcycle, search through pockets for gems/quilts for wads of £50 notes and then find the best market for all the treasures would make for a very interesting position I reckon.

I know someone who does house clearances and they shake all books open, check pockets etc for cash. Look in tins for cash. People stash loads in different places.

but in the case of what would I do, I'd have taken it back to the shop

If the price tag has a number on it (gift aid), then the person who handed it in could easily be traced.

Someone here in Ireland donated a pair of curtains to a Barnardos charity shop with no idea there was a large amount of money sewn into them. A staff member found it and an appeal was put out through newspapers and social media giving the location of the shop. A woman who had given curtains to the shop came forward, was able to describe the pattern of the curtains and was given the money.
It wouldn't be that hard nowadays to find the owner of a donated item.

I read that thread on Mumsnet yesterday and was very surprised at some of the responses - mainly keep the money.
There was allegation that if OP took the quilt and money back to the charity shop the manager would pocket the lot!
Words fail me.

As a side issue I run a plant and produce stall outside my gate to raise money for the local Hospice. I have 20 friends and neighbors who donate fruit, veg, plants and flowers to to be sold. I am always grateful to everyone who supports my stall and to customers who give generously often far more than the asking price. Last year we raised £2500.00

Baggs

^I would have kept quiet about the money in the quilt and told no one. Certainly not a bunch of randoms on the internet.^

This is why I think the story is not true, just someone throwing out a philosophical question – "if this, then what?"

It's the scale of the found hoard and the carelessness of (a) the sewing in, all in one corner, as if ! (b) the charity shop not noticing, that makes me dubious about the whole thing.
It's just off the scale in oddness.

I believed it. As someone said, it had probably come from a house clearance after someone died, or had moved to a care home.
I don’t know how many charity shops would be able to tell you. if asked, who donated a certain item - I suspect very few.

JaneJudge

I know someone who does house clearances and they shake all books open, check pockets etc for cash. Look in tins for cash. People stash loads in different places.

Yes, and especially when dementia is involved.

An aunt with dementia in a care home, once complained bitterly to a sister and BiL that someone had stolen a valuable ring. She had squirrelled it away, by wrapping it in a pair of knickers and putting it in the bin.
If sister and BiL hadn’t happened to visit that day, and check absolutely everywhere…

Surely though you would check with the charity shop, contact the police and try on social media to find out who had donated the quilt.

Pocketing the money and giving a few bob to charity to salve your conscience is pretty greedy and despicable.

chocolatepudding your stall sounds fantastic. What a lot of community spirit you have there. I bet the hospice are delighted with the money you raise.

Germanshepherdsmum

The rightful owner is probably a beneficiary of a deceased person’s estate who has no knowledge whatsoever of the money. The right thing to do is to arrange via the charity’s head office for the cash to be returned to the charity. It’s then up to them if they keep it. I wouldn’t just give it back to the shop, where it could disappear into pockets.

I volunteer in a charity shop - any money I find in pockets, handbags, etc goes straight in the charity collection box next to the till - not everybody is on the make.

@Germanshepherdsmum BigLouis, you’re another one who has gone down in my estimation

Wow its sure going to ruin my weekend (not) that some random on the internet is disappointed.

I wasnt put on the earth to please and gratify parsimonious virtue signallers.

Why were you put on earth, biglouis?

To please myself before I think of pleasing people who ask such inane questions.

How has Germanshepherds mum come across as parsimonious?

The thread sounds like a work of fiction to me

It's the responses that were interesting and worrying. So many posters who couldn't see anything wrong with keeping a large sum of money that wasn't rightfully theirs, scoffing at the idea of handing it in to the police, deciding the people who had donated the quilt were heartless relatives who didn't deserve the money and coming up with all kinds of excuses for their unethical and greedy behaviour.

I think I would return it to the charity shop. But I'm also aware of how poor some people are and that money will make a lot of difference to them, if they're out of work for instance, ill, struggling with bills, debts, etc, etc, so I'm not going to condemn anyone when I don't know their circumstances. I haven't walked in their shoes.

I’ve volunteered and am now working in a charity shop and can say that I would have absolutely no idea who had donated the quilt had it come to us unless it has a gift aid ticket still attached, although most donations are not gift aided. A couple of times last week I took in over sixty bags of donations, over two hundred by the week’s end. The bags containing fabric of any kind are thrown into large pens for sorting at a later date which could be a week or two later, we also receive stock from other branches so there huge amounts to be got through.

If the (possibly nonexistent) quilt had been returned to us I’m sure the charity’s PR team would try to find the donor using all the media outlets available to them.

I didn’t pick up on first reading that money was apparently all in £50 notes.
How often do you ever see those? Even if you take hefty sums from a cash machine?
On reflection, it sounds more like a dodgy stash, than some old dear hiding her money away in a ‘safe place’.